Lest We Forget
by LittleEnglishLass
Summary: Today was not a day for things to be missed. As proven by the tiny, uninteresting figure leaning against the doorway of a large hangar, watching the rather more intriguing frame that stood stoically underneath the inky silk of the night sky, dotted with tiny, eternally flickering diamonds of light.


**I present to you a thousand apologies for my lack of updating of anything. In short, these past few months have been hellish in nature. I won't go into the details, but let's just say I haven't been feeling up to writing for a while for many different reasons.**

**This is for Enigma, who won a little competition thing I had going ages ago, and as a reward got to choose a one-shot for me to write. They wanted a one-shot focusing on Dino. It was a challenge, as I don't know too much about the guy, so I did a bit of research. Not much written down about his personality really, other than he was supposed to be movie-version of Mirage, so I'm going with the**_** 'quiet gentleman who has a mischievous and slightly condescending side' **_**kind of thing. ****However, I don't approve of the idea of him being the same character as Dino, just as much as I don't like the idea of Que (bless his spark, the poor dear. He was adorable and funny and I wish he'd lived) being Wheeljack. In any and all of my fics, the aforementioned 'bots or those with similar conditions are completely separate people. So yeah, Dino and Que are their own characters. I feel it's only right, considering the movies don't do the 'bots enough credit. (Not surprising and I really don't blame Mr Bay for it at all, do you have ANY idea how **_**much**_** it costs and how **_**long **_**it takes to render even a tiny scene with any of them in?!) **

**Hollie is a rather well-liked OC of mine. Don't click away, she's no Sue. :) Seriously, I tested her. She got a score of 9.**

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**Lest We Forget**

It's funny, how we can miss the little things when we don't look properly. The gentle applause of the spring leaves as a light wisp of air tumbles over them, or the lull of activity in the midday summer sun as every living creature takes the time to rest and watch the world go by. The strange, almost eerie quiet that befalls even the busiest of landscapes during snowfall, the light flakes dancing their way to the ground or struggling their way over blustering gales. The soft tip-tap of the rain upon the smoothness of a glass pane, creating that oddly appealing scent of dusty roads after the storm. Or even quite simply, the sad look our loved ones give us when we treat them like they don't matter at all. As if they were nothing more than a daily chore we must endure for the sake of convenience.

It's so easy to forget to look for these things. And then, when they inevitably rot and die before they fade from existence completely, we suddenly realise how much they meant to us. And then we regret. Then we taste the bitterness of loss, and mourn for the things we loved we will never get back.

However, today was not a day for things to be missed. As proven by the tiny, uninteresting figure leaning against the doorway of a large hangar, watching the rather more intriguing frame that stood stoically underneath the inky silk of the night sky, dotted with tiny, eternally flickering diamonds of light.

Hollie sighed and pushed a few annoying strands of honey-brown hair out of her eyes as she walked towards the towering alien. She'd be meaning to get around to introducing herself to the quiet red 'bot she'd been informed was named Dino and the younger brother of Mirage. She had already met the other two new arrivals, Que and Beta, but this one had remained elusive to say the least. The soldiers said he was a bit standoffish, but Hollie remembered they'd said the same thing about Sideswipe before he'd come out of his shell and shown his true colours.

"Hey," Hollie called to the red Autobot, "Mind if I join you?"

Dino turned and surveyed her for a few moments. Eventually, he nodded cordially but stayed silent, observing the tiny human as she stood next to him and gazed at the same spot he had been staring at for a while now. They were such weird creatures, and not necessarily in an appealing way. He didn't hold any contempt or disgust for them, no not at all, but that didn't mean he had any love for them either. No, he merely tolerated them out of respect for his leader's judgement.

"You were looking for Cybertron weren't you?"

The sudden question made Dino start. He blinked down at the human in surprise, but still stayed silent. She smiled up at him for a second, and then looked back to the same spot of sky with a small exhale of air.

"I remember when I really got to know Optimus." The human began sadly. "It was a few weeks after Mission City. I couldn't sleep, kept having nightmares. So I went for a walk around the base. I found him out here too, just staring at that same spot, and looking so sad it almost hurt to look at him."

Dino still said nothing as the human smiled up at him once more.

"It was a real shock seeing him like that. Before, part of me only really saw him as some kind of god-like leader who was above silly things like emotions. But the moment I saw his expression, I saw him as a regular guy who just wanted the best for his family." The human continued in that same sad tone. "I remember walking up to him and putting a hand on his leg. I don't think he expected anyone to be up at that time, so he was a bit surprised to see me. I asked if he was okay. He just…didn't reply. I don't think he really knew how to respond, and for a moment I didn't know what to say either. I mean, what the _hell_ are you even supposed to say to someone who's lost their entire planet? We just kind of stood there for a while."

Finally, Dino spoke up. "And…then?"

The human sighed and folded her arms over her chest.

"Well, then I pulled out the cheesiest line in history. I said I was sorry for his loss." The human laughed, shaking her head. "Honestly, what a stupid thing to say. I'm surprised he even deigned to speak to me after that one."

Dino was silent once more.

"Quiet one aren't you?" The human commented briefly. "Anyway, I guess you guys don't have that saying back home, 'cause he looked a bit confused and asked me what I meant. I shrugged and told him I didn't really know, but it just seemed like the right thing to say because that's what people say when something bad happens. Then I realised I sounded a bit cold, so I clarified that I didn't know how to express how sorry I was that we hadn't managed to help you save your home."

"I…I am sure he understood, even if you yourself couldn't find the words."

The human nodded. "That's pretty much what he said, actually. He said that some things we can never speak, that we can only feel them and learn from them. He said he didn't blame us for the loss of the AllSpark, and that everything that'd happened was just an unfortunate series of events nobody could control, that maybe things were meant to happen this way."

Dino nodded. "That does indeed sound like something Optimus would say."

The human reached out and patted his leg, which made him snap his gaze to the tiny hand placed on the red painted armour. A part of him wanted to wrench his leg back from the touch of the organic, but he couldn't find the will to do it.

"I guess…what I'm trying to say is…give us a chance." The human said, "We're not perfect, but no race ever is or ever will be. We'll never replace your home or your family, but we'll try our hardest to help you get back on your feet. We're a bit odd, and sometimes we do stupid things, but we genuinely care for you all. You're a part of our family now, whether you like it or not."

Dino gazed at the young thing for a few moments. A thousand thoughts rushed around in his mind at once, each offering equally unhelpful advice on how to deal with the current situation.

"I forgot to mention, I'm Hollie." The human added. "But Jazz calls me 'Mamma Hen' because he says I'm always 'clucking' around like you're all my babies that I have to protect from the big bad world outside. You're automatically included in that by the way."

The red 'bot found himself laughing for the first time in a long while. There was something about the matter-of-fact tone the female had that conjured up the mental image of her fussing around the rest of his team who had suddenly become sparklings.

"Dino, honoured to meet you my lady."

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**Sorry if it's taken so long and if it's just plain awful, Enigma. My head hasn't been in the game recently, and it's taking a while to dig my inspiration back up from its untimely grave.**

**Please don't forget to give me feedback. :) **


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